Mr Paandey, our Chemistry "sir" at high school lived up to his name. He was a great paan lover. We don't use the word "addict" when it comes to niceties like paan. Our main occupation in class was to observe him with keen interest; how he would pop one in, right in the middle of the class. He would pretend to be a little thoughtful over one of the questions raised by the student. He would knot his brow, caress his rather protruding jaw, stroke his stubble and feel his lips as he towered over the class. With a magician's sleight of hand, the paan would be palmed ever so secretly and quickly popped into the mouth. Soon, the scowl on his face would melt into the most beatific smile. Evidently, paan transported him to another world where there was absolutely no irritation. Just the moment to show him our incomplete homework and ensure that we escaped with the minimum of punishment.
An aroma of paan hung around him all the time and helped to improve his self-image during the days when de-odorants and their ubiquitous adverstisements were completely absent.
A paan-lover has to master a different speaking technique. It is a tough balancing act to hold the paan and its overflowing juices in the mouth and speak at the same time. Articulation is out of question of course. The goal is to sound reasonably human in tone and convey the message with minimal amount of distortion. That itself is a tall order. But Mr Pandey had mastered it over the years and managed to reel out complicated equations on potassium chloride and manganese dioxide without soaking the student on the first row with paan-spittle! (Sorry for the gross imagery. I need to add a disclaimer at the beginning.)
The mayor of Mumbai needs to be congratulated. The subways (flight of stairs to take you across the main road) are always covered with white tiles. It allows the paan aficionado to express himself in an artistic way. There is no reason why art should be the monopoly of just the Hussains and the Boses. The paan-lover cannot resist the canvas and has to paint the town red. He uses a rather unusual technique: Two fingers are pressed to the lips through which the vermilion pigment is ejected. It gives him both control and reach to create some absolutely moving images.
It is no wonder that people in India follow paan-theism and need paan-cards. But my research shows that paan-love was infact a world wide phenomenon. Rome has the paan-theon, England has Peter-Paan and Latin America has dedicated the most important canal to its love affair with the paan: The Paanama canal!
Yes, I have opened a Paan-dora's box here.
An aroma of paan hung around him all the time and helped to improve his self-image during the days when de-odorants and their ubiquitous adverstisements were completely absent.
A paan-lover has to master a different speaking technique. It is a tough balancing act to hold the paan and its overflowing juices in the mouth and speak at the same time. Articulation is out of question of course. The goal is to sound reasonably human in tone and convey the message with minimal amount of distortion. That itself is a tall order. But Mr Pandey had mastered it over the years and managed to reel out complicated equations on potassium chloride and manganese dioxide without soaking the student on the first row with paan-spittle! (Sorry for the gross imagery. I need to add a disclaimer at the beginning.)
The mayor of Mumbai needs to be congratulated. The subways (flight of stairs to take you across the main road) are always covered with white tiles. It allows the paan aficionado to express himself in an artistic way. There is no reason why art should be the monopoly of just the Hussains and the Boses. The paan-lover cannot resist the canvas and has to paint the town red. He uses a rather unusual technique: Two fingers are pressed to the lips through which the vermilion pigment is ejected. It gives him both control and reach to create some absolutely moving images.
It is no wonder that people in India follow paan-theism and need paan-cards. But my research shows that paan-love was infact a world wide phenomenon. Rome has the paan-theon, England has Peter-Paan and Latin America has dedicated the most important canal to its love affair with the paan: The Paanama canal!
Yes, I have opened a Paan-dora's box here.
Paan-tastaic topic.
ReplyDeleteOne of my neighbors in Kolkata bought tiles with the picture of Ganesha to prevent passers-by from "decorating" his wall.
This is very common in North India...MP, UP, Bihar etc. People use tiles with God/Goddess images to keep paan-lovers away from making this art.
ReplyDeleteHey guys, In Mumbai, this picture technique is used to keep a different kind of nuisance away. That would be an interesting topic too. Some other time!
ReplyDeletethis post is hilarious! cant stop laughing!
ReplyDeleteThe dish looks beutiful and i know one more beutiful and tasty cuisine and that is Banarasi Paan
ReplyDelete